Dusting Off the Gloves
by Seggy
Summary: You remember how cool you thought Naruto would be, the first time you heard about it? This is like that. Naruto as presented by Toonami- it's gonna blow you guys away.
1. Prologue

**Inspired by the ****Toonami Promo**** of Naruto's second season.**

The first sign that something had gone wrong came with the increased rate at which the target looked around. The second was the more easily-noticeable explosion that rocked the corner of the market, emptying the square within seconds. The small village was overtaken by chaos as the sound of the blast washed over its entirety.

In the marketplace's midst, a ninja stood calmly, looking around curiously. After a flick of his wrist, three smaller explosions blew holes into the area surrounding him. Three ninjas shimmered into existence, the plethora of colors in their outfits contrasting nicely with the street to help the man spot them.

As one they rocketed at him, the black-haired boy taking control of the fight as his two companions attempted to kebab the man with their small knives. As any good ninja, he kept his eyes on all of them, maintaining his momentum as he backed towards one of the corners of the market. He held off a child with each arm, taking moments to punch the pink-haired girl in the head to keep her off his back.

He took the time to blink, kicking the blond boy in the orange getup away as he grabbed the black-haired boy and flung him to the side. Suddenly there were five of the blond boy surrounding him, and the girl was out of sight.

Another blink, and the boy and girl were beside the clones' leader, directly ahead of him. They were all calm, arms crossed as they stared at his rugged visage.

"They sent kids to deal with me? Kaji of Kyoto, feared through the Elemental Countries?" The note of incredulity in his voice was taken with scowls by the eight.

"Feared? You're just a thief, barely worth the C-ranking they gave you. That they even bothered to send us instead of waiting for you to stumble off a cliff is astounding. Team Seven deserves a lot more than this trash," scoffed the black-haired boy.

"At least we get to fight, just don't go too hard or he'll break before we can get to have fun," his blond companion chuckled as he nudged his arm with an elbow, ducking under the girl's slap. "Come on, Sakura! At least try to make the most of this!"

"Don't be so flippant about killing, idiot!"

Kaji grinned widely, green eyes twinkling at the children's flamboyance. "At least you won't be a boring fight. Come on, all three of you! Tell me your names, I like to kill my enemies alphabetically."

"You're such a weirdo." The blond boy scratched his nose as he looked at the taller ninja. "I'm Naruto, those are Sakura and Sasuke. Let's get a move on already!"

In less than one second, Kaji had the black-haired boy upon him, trying to kick his face with all the momentum four clones could give him. With a snort, the brown-haired man leaned back, grabbing the boy's leg, swinging him from the appendage and throwing him away once again.

Four of the blond boy swarmed him, two coming from the front with kunai at the ready and two from above, trying to get good hits on his head and shoulders. Smoothly, he reached forward and crushed their heads together, before jumping back as they popped. The two clones landed right in front of him, dispersing with smirks.

Kaji blinked, before Naruto exploded from the cloud of smoke. The taller ninja coughed as the Genin's shoulder threw him back, the boy continuing to run with him bowed around his torso. His scream overpowered the boy's shout of triumph briefly as they crashed into a brick wall, before Naruto powered through it.

Collapsing in a heap in the alley as Naruto jumped backwards, Kaji barely had time to stand before noticing the hissing of explosive notes. Rising above the fireball borne of their ignition, three of Kaji landed atop a small building, looking around for their opponents as they formed a triangular formation.

A high-pitched war cry rang from the pink-haired girl as she hopped over the roof's threshold and let loose with three shuriken. The two outlying clones dissolved into dust as they were hit in the chest, but the middle Kaji grabbed the one headed for himself casually, throwing it back at the girl as she tipped backwards and off of the building.

Sprinting to follow, the older ninja spotted not the girl, but the blond boy jumping up to meet him. Startled blue eyes widened as a large hand grabbed his throat, abruptly halting his momentum before Kaji choke-slammed Naruto into the ground. The young ninja roared in anger as he punched with his left hand, dislodging the older man's right hand from his throat as he recoiled in pain at the hit to his ribcage. Before he could leap away, Naruto grabbed onto the man's shoulder with the same hand and punched with the right.

Kaji gurgled in pain as the hand went through his chest, Naruto grinning bloodthirstily as he grabbed onto an organ and pulled.

"Why, it seems I've got you by the heartstrings!" He cackled, before attempting to squeeze. The object in his hand became compact rocks and the convulsing man atop him became earth and dust as a blade exploded out of his jacket in his abdomen.

The blond looked down at his chest and the bloody blade, before he was thrown away from the earth. The leg extending from the ground where he had been lying on slowly retracted into it before Kaji stood, brushing off his clothes.

"You three aren't much, you know?" He absently commented as Sasuke ran at him. The boy seemed to run faster than he had before, but as in those occasions the older ninja lackadaisically dodged punch after punch. The boy's kicks came faster still as he gave up on punching, before the boy simply stopped attacking and started a match of footwork with the man.

Kaji began to feel himself getting pushed harder as the boy continued to build speed, before he got the gist of the situation and exuded a wave a chakra from his pores. The boy faded into nothingness before the ninja reached to his left to stop the girl from carving a path down his side. He waved a finger in her face, smiling condescendingly at the kunai mere centimeters from his kidney.

Her wide smirk did nothing to signal the brutal kick that rocked his entire frame from the other side. Kaji was thrown aside by the force, clutching at his side gingerly as he looked towards the foe that hit him. Sakura's delicate frame shimmered into that of Naruto, who grinned at him before dispelling into a cloud of smoke.

The sound of breathing beside him garnered his attention, and a hand wielding a kunai lashed out at Sasuke as he attempted to kick at the man's already tender ribcage. The boy hissed at the effort required to stop his momentum as he dragged a hand across the ground, lifting a small cloud of dust as he punted the knife from his opponent's hand. Using the hand on the ground to suspend himself, the boy used the other foot to kick Kaji.

The compromised ribcage gave way with a sickening crack, the ninja doubling over in pain as he clutched his chest. His position did not help the situation as Naruto zoomed in from above, landing with his knees planted between the man's shoulder blades.

Sakura waved the small cloud of earthen material away from herself as she walked towards the defeated man, Sasuke regaining his composition as he rubbed a hand on his dark shirt. Naruto leaned over the man's head and leered malevolently at the pained face as he yanked it up to look at Kaji eye-to-eye.

Without a care in the world, the Genin ripped the blade from his back, before reaching forward with it and displaying it akin to a prize. "You stabbed my fucking liver with this thing. This blade's mine, now. Where should it go?"

"Wherever you put your dirty gear, I'd reckon," a bored voice responded from above his head as two long-fingered hands calmly slapped his own away from the criminal's head, before they slit the man's throat. "Oh hey, one more for me."

Naruto sighed in aggravation as he stood from the now-dead man's back. Crouching directly in front of him was Kakashi, who waved cheerfully at himself and the two teammates that now flanked him. The Jounin calmly took a scroll from one of his green flak jacket's pockets and unfurled it beside the body, dislodging the Genin atop it with a simple command.

With a poof of smoke, Kaji the Kyoto Thief was gone, and within a second the scroll was in Kakashi's pocket, the man standing. As he towered over his students, the Jounin happily wrote in a small notebook with a marker. "Nice bounty on this one, too. Looks like I get the bonus, again."

"You always get the bonus because you don't let us get any of the targets with actual money on their heads," Naruto complained loudly as he crossed his arms behind his back. His teacher shrugged innocently, eliciting a pout.

"Regardless, our job here is done. Come on, kids!" Kakashi's eye curled up in glee as he walked through the desolate town center, stepping over a piece of rubble.

Sakura punched Naruto's arm as they followed, harping at the blond boy. "You lost us the bonus _again_! Just kill them, no need to make your annoying voice the last thing the poor people need to hear before they die."

"If you really need to, just talk a bit less," Sasuke added, shaking his head with a sigh. "With all this bravado, Sensei is the only one that ever gets the head."

"The rest of you should've been quicker to jump on the chance, then," Kakashi called out absently. "It's just how it works; my Sensei always got the head too." The man turned his head to the side, peering at them before his visible eye closed in contentment.

His exasperated students sighed.

--__--

The sky was clear, with specks of cloud dotting the blue skies above as Team Seven sweated from the heat and exertion. Kakashi calmly walked behind his team, reading his book as he coached them. Sakura led the formation, taking quick, careful steps. Sasuke walked behind her, holding both arms out for balance. Naruto fell on his face with a splash, screaming in frustration.

"Now, my cute students, Chakra is a wonderful thing. With it, you can walk on water, walk on walls, walk on people's heads without them noticing. However, if you take it for granted, soon you're gonna find out that," Kakashi idly flipped a page. "you're blowing your entire load before you've even begun the mission. Hence this exercise. Naruto here lacks finesse, so balancing on the surface is proving to be a bit harder to him."He stopped walking when his other two students toppled into the cool sea, submerging to get away from the unforgiving sun.

"So wet!" Sakura squealed as Sasuke leaned back into the water and let his body float. Naruto continued to flop uselessly, attempting to stand onto the water again.

Kakashi serenely bobbed as the wave passed under him, legs not moving in the slightest. The show of skill was overlooked as Sakura dragged Naruto into the water to stop his flailing, before the blond and herself double-teamed Sasuke. The children splashed each other with water, degenerating into mindless dunking and water-fighting as the teacher watched quietly.

_I'll let the kids be kids. Until the sharks get here._ Kakashi squinted slightly and noted a fin protruding from the calm surface of the sea, nearing rapidly. He shrugged, flipping a page.

Kakashi let the children play for another half hour, during which time they were joined by an improbably large shark- which was in the midst of trying to digest Naruto before his teammates could cut him free, when Kakashi noticed a speck approaching on the horizon. As he watched, it grew into the more recognizable shape of a messenger hawk, which slowed its approach while the Jounin tucked his book into a pouch. Presenting an arm, Kakashi blinked at the bird, taking a small scroll from the proffered leg after it landed.

Shaking it off of his arm, Kakashi unfurled the scroll as the bird moved to his shoulder, taking a step to the left to avoid a large splash of water from the struggling students and fish. He peered at the scroll for a few seconds, skimming it for its contents through layers of code, before calmly tucking it under his Jounin vest. He patted the bird's head happily, receiving a peck on his thumb before it flew off.

Kakashi walked towards the flurry of activity in the water, hauling Sasuke and Sakura away from the shark before reaching into the enormous fish's mouth to yank out his loudest protégé. After punting the seaborne creature away, Kakashi turned to his team.

"We're being redirected. The Land of Waves is about sixty kilometers from here, and we need to be there by sundown." He looked down at his three waterlogged students before yanking Naruto to the surface, where he remained with Chakra. "Aren't you glad we're been conserving our energy? Sasuke, Sakura, come on up."

Naruto gingerly rubbed the skin below his bloody left ear. "Team Ten never gets repurposed in the field. Team Eight never gets retasked after they finish their initial mission, either! I think the Hokage is still mad at me for-" The boy looked around, noticing his teammates were gone. Past a long trailing wake, Naruto could see three figures disappearing into the distance. "Hey, wait up!"

Naruto crouched before leaping off of the water, using large amounts of Chakra to keep himself on the surface as he tried to keep up with the rest of Team Seven as they made for the Land of the Waves.

**End of Prologue.**

There was once a thread in TFF discussing how Naruto would be if it were like people's first impressions through Toonami's advertisements. Well... I didn't read that thread, but I guess I should note it for inspiration. People thought of this before. They just didn't go through with it. Russell was a bro in helping me out from his confused position as a Beta/Muse/tentacles.


	2. Wave Country

**This is Chapter 1. Props to Russell as always for being a bro and being something confusing between Beta and Muse and Friendly Neighborhood Tentacle Monster. **

The clouds obscuring the entirety of Wave's skies roiled above, giving the surroundings a gray tinge as Sasuke and Sakura sat on the stones outlining the coast of the island nation. The two teens were recovering from the long run that had been forced upon them, relaxing their feet after channeling great amounts of Chakra through them.

"When will Naruto get here?" Sakura distastefully picked at her wind-dried hair. "You think he lost us?"

"We were going in a straight line. There's absolutely no way he could have gotten lost." Sasuke sighed. "But then again, he's Naruto."

Distant splashes made themselves known. The sporadic periods between each one became shorter as they grew louder, and soon the source could be seen. "Oh, there he is," Sakura blankly noted.

Naruto leapt from place to place along the waterway, waving enthusiastically between each jump. As he neared, he stumbled slightly on his last leap near the coast, and the water under him exploded. Sasuke serenely leaned back on his rock to watch his teammate soar above him. A distant cracking sound echoed, and the Uchiha stood with a grunt.

"He made landfall!" Sakura clapped happily, bouncing towards the blond's location. Sasuke's more sedate pace led him to a fallen oak tree, over ten times his height. Naruto clutched his head painfully, his female teammate taking a seat on the bark behind the blond as the Uchiha walked up to them. Kakashi could be seen standing on a thin branch that still protruded from the base of the tree, reading his book atop the long, thin piece of wood.

Sasuke looked back at the water, where small waves spread outwards from a distant disturbance, before looking at the wrecked tree. "Wow, Naruto. You jumped half a kilometer."

His teammate simply leaned back onto Sakura's legs. The girl helpfully patted his head, eliciting a groan from the pained boy.

"Very impressive," she commended. "I'd never have seen you coming."

Kakashi dropped down from his branch, smiling underneath his mask at his students' antics. "I'm sure compliments for Naruto can wait. You can acknowledge his excellent aim after the briefing." Sasuke turned towards him, sitting down on the bark beside Sakura. The Jounin looked over his protégées, before tucking his book into a pouch and pulling out the mission scroll. He skimmed it briefly before speaking.

"We've been tasked with escorting an important item to Konoha. If need be, we are to defend it with our lives." Kakashi placed the scroll in his pocket and crossed his arms. "We need to head to the capitol. The Mayor is waiting for us just outside the dig site where the artifact was discovered."

"And that artifact would be...?" Sasuke quirked an eyebrow.

"It's classified," Kakashi explained, before continuing. "After we've secured the artifact, we will head to Konoha as soon as possible. Wave's garrison is on the lookout for enemy presence, but should they report that there is none..." Kakashi gestured towards Naruto, who nodded and shakily stood, before making a hand seal and forming a clone. "I trust that clone is equipped to make more?"

"Yeah, Sensei. It's the Uzumaki Scouting Package, a clone loaded with enough Chakra to create a team that can scour a whole city!" Naruto grinned proudly, giving Kakashi a thumbs-up. The clone saluted. Kakashi peered at it for a fraction of a second and waved it away. The clone nodded and jumped towards the coast.

"Right. Let's go."

The outer reaches of Wave's capitol, unoriginally named Wave City, were a dozen kilometers inland. Its borders marked by a thick conglomeration of squat buildings, it was easy to discern from the various farming villages scattered throughout Wave Country's main island. Team Seven entered the city through through a wide street that shaped a shopping district around itself.

Wave City's burgeoning economy fueled the stores that began closing for the night as the sun slowly lowered in the sky, Kakashi and his team nimbly leapt over small concentrations of humanity on their way to the dig site that slowly rose into sight directly ahead. At the end of the street was a park, demarcated by scaffolding, which was their destination.

Burly workers swarmed the mass of wooden structures as they shuttled materials back and forth along the entrances to the excavation. Kakashi led his team to the base of the tallest scaffold, peering up at the two men who were shouting orders to the surrounding workers, their glasses glinting in the orange light the sky shone with.

Eventually the shorter one noticed the four people standing still in his site, moving the edge of his platform to look down. "Hey, what are you four doing-" He recoiled in the middle of his sentence, before raising his dark shades to peer closely at Team Seven. "Konoha Ninja? Are you the ones I asked for?" The man grinned, before hopping to the small ladder and dropping to the ground. He walked up to Kakashi and extended a hand in greeting. "I'm Gatou, mayor of Wave City!"

The Jounin stared down at the exuberant government figure. "I'm Kakashi and I'm a Jounin. Hi." He reluctantly shook the offered hand.

"I presume that is your Genin team?" Gatou asked, smiling at the children behind the gray-haired man. "Hello kids!" He waved cheerfully.

The three amateur ninja simply stared back. "No, they're not my Genin Team yet," Kakashi broke in before the mayor could continue his antics. "You're very cheerful."

"Why, I have no reason to not be cheerful, Mr. Kakashi! I'm a philanthropist who managed to land the job of his dreams- leading the people he loves!" The man lowered his shades over his eyes and walked away from the Jounin, towards the excavation. "But lest I ramble into the night, let's get going, yes?"

Kakashi nodded, waving for his team to follow. The group entered the dig site carefully, following the short rich man's lead into the caverns dotted with spots of aged metallic ceilings and walls. "I believe this discovery will be the greatest thing to happen to Wave; what we've found is unprecedented," Gatou commented as they passed room after dirty room.

"What did you find, exactly?" Sasuke stared through one of the windows dotting the halls into a restaurant of sorts, dotted with small booths. In one corner he could see a mass of steel hanging from the wall, beside a counter. As they passed the dilapidated, rusty door, he noted the damage from weeks of trying to get through it with simple tools.

"It's a surprise- no one ever believes me when I say it anyway, so I'll let you see it instead." Gatou turned his head, noting Sasuke's curiosity. "Oh, that room. We've been trying to get in it, but we haven't been able to breach the windows or doors. Even our best digging equipment can't pierce this thing. It must be one of the most modern examples of forgotten technology- I don't know what made it cave in, but it's simply astounding. I used to have a hobby in that I'd collect little stones and try to categorize them- I've become quite an accomplished geologist since then, and decided to branch off into archaeology. This facility is like a dream come true!"

_That explains his enthusiasm,_ Sakura considered as she peered at the lamps hung overhead. They lit the halls of the excavation a bright yellow, the steel walls reflecting the light very well.

Finally, after almost a dozen turnings, which took them past innumerable halls, Gatou stopped before a door. Unlike those they had passed by in every other hall, this doorway seemed untouched by time. The short philanthropist happily looked back at the ninja with a grin, before walking closer. A high-pitched beep sounded through the facility, and the door moved up into the wall with a light whooshing sound. Looking like a magician who performed a successful magic trick, the mayor of Wave City pranced into the small chamber, Team Seven following.

The room was simple, containing only a small bunk on the side and a wide desk up against the opposite wall. Naruto looked from the beds to the table, where a thin rectangular object sat, connected to the wall by a wire on its rear.

Kakashi and the other two ninja focused instead on the lighting of the room. Instead of the yellow bulbs that lit up the rest of the facility, this room only had one large dome in the middle of its ceiling, emitting a blindingly bright white light.

"This is our greatest discovery." The mayor ran a hand over the sleek black rectangle with a finger, almost lovingly. "Wave shall be remembered through the ages for this, I know."

"So... what is it?" Naruto queried after a few seconds of silence. Gatou stopped rubbing the object and looked at him with a megawatt grin, before opening his mouth to answer.

As it was, Sakura jumped in before he could go off on an enthusiastic tangent. "It looks like it can be opened... there's the split down the middle here." The girl walked closer to the artifact, reaching for it. Gatou seemed to consider pushing the girl away from his find for a second, before abolishing that train of thought.

Delicate fingers roved over the sides of the rectangular object, before finding a small notch. Eyes narrowing, Sakura pulled at it, and after a small click she was able to split the object. A large screen and a simplistic keyboard containing indecipherable keys were uncovered, and the ninja in training stared blankly at them. "It's... a computer?"

"It does indeed looks like a computer," Kakashi noted with a wide eye. "The data within it is no doubt going to be extremely important."

"The screen is so large and the machine itself is so small... wow, this is so far beyond what I thought possible," the girl murmured. _Konoha has only a handful of these and they're all bigger than houses... this is such an amazing find!_

The Jounin watched his student's eyes widen as she beheld the small machine, before looking back at his other two students. Sasuke was idly bouncing on his spot, looking at the ceiling in boredom, while Naruto was still.

"Uh, Sensei," he stammered.

"Hmm?"

"Remember the scouting party you wanted me to send out?" His expression went from frozen to horror in the space of a few seconds after he spoke.

"Did you find anything?"

"Kiri Jounin contingent. One huge guy with a sword, and another that looks like a Hunter. I spotted a few near the border too, but can't be sure of the numbers. They seem to be gathering up for an ambush... maybe if we leave fast enough we'll be able to avoid it?"

Kakashi's eye narrowed in thought. "Shit... Kiri found out about our little toy. This is... just an excavation, not anything protected. Gatou, do you have any defended facilities in the surrounding area?" He turned a steely eye towards the startled shorter man, who nodded hurriedly.

"The Capitol Building! The Prime Minister's bunker is impregnable by even the strongest Earth techniques." He took a deep breath, looking around at the four ninja. "Are you going to wait for backup?"

"Yes... we need to make sure the computer doesn't get damaged at all. We could get past them, but the risk is too great. Sakura, Sasuke, gather up the components and give me the cable. If they manage to grab the computer itself, they won't be able to look at any of the data without it. Naruto, did you find any within the city itself?"

"No, Sensei." The Jounin nodded, taking the black cable from Sasuke and crouching to seal it in a small scroll. He handed one to Sakura, who did likewise with the sleek mainframe. Within less than a minute, they were ready to move.

"Mayor, stay in front of Sasuke and Sakura, but behind Naruto and myself. Let's move." Their pace was only slightly hurried, and the workers still in the facility didn't take much notice of the team moving out, as they saw no computer in their hands. Team Seven escorted Gatou out of the excavation without trouble, and as Naruto helped the short man out of the dig site, Kakashi looked around warily. Darkness began encroaching the land as the sun set, and he looked back to his blond student as Sakura and Sasuke had gotten themselves out. "You've found nothing in our vicinity?"

"No sir; my clones are on the city limits on the lookout for the group I noticed earlier," Naruto reported.

His teacher nodded, before waving for the four others to follow him. They quietly trod through the darkening streets, keeping to the side of the road to avoid most of the civilian traffic. Gatou was surrounded by the students, Kakashi leading the small group towards the Capitol Building as he critically peered at every alley.

"The Capitol is just two blocks away," the mayor whispered to the ninja. Naruto dully nodded, before Kakashi's hand snapped out. A nearby hobo, squatting by an alley, dropped his coffee cup as his nose exploded in a shower of blood. Gatou flinched as the man's body slumped back.

A Naruto melted out of the shadows of the alley, giving his teacher two thumbs up. "There's two more in front of the Capitol." As the ninja retreated into the alley, Gatou gaped at the corpse.

"What the hell was that?" He pulled off his shades, staring at Kakashi with wide eyes. "Why did you kill him?"

"He was an enemy agent," Kakashi calmly answered.

"You said there were no enemies in the city!"

"I lied." He shrugged. Gatou looked back to the fallen hobo, and saw two Narutos calmly setting the body up beside a scroll. He shook as he looked back to the one escorting him. Sasuke grunted in amusement, smirking at his blond teammate.

As they neared the Capitol building, the mayor cautiously looked around the Jounin leader to look for the two enemies. Sasuke stood on the front steps of the tall marble building, nodding at the nearing team before kicking two corpses down them. One of the bodies was burnt nearly to a husk, rolling over the scorched lines running up the steps as its clothing flaked off. The second wasn't too damaged, but the man's head flopped around unnaturally.

Gatou glanced to the side, where he had thought Sasuke had been walking. "My bounty," the young ninja grumbled as he trod down the steps. As the team walked towards the building, he quickly decapitated the two dead ninja, drawing a wince from the mayor, before he rejoined the formation. The short man made sure to avoid the scorch marks on the marble steps, carefully stepping to their sides.

A group of guards just within the doors saluted as they noted Kakashi's vest and headband, before bowing at Gatou. The mayor took the lead, walking around Kakashi and towards a staircase. Said man shrugged and signaled for his team to follow.

Soon the lavish red and bronze furnishings of the Capitol, which stretched down two flights of the staircase, became cold iron and featureless cement. After descending two more flights, Gatou pulled a key from within his coat and stuck it into what looked like a break in the stone to the untrained eye. With a low rumbling, a passage opened, the official ushering the team inside.

The chamber was comfortable, predominantly beige besides the masses of maps and strategical equipment. There was a long table in the middle of the room, and breaking the mass of shelves covering the walls was a wide map of Wave Country. Beside it was a pipe, which looked completely out of place compared to the other furnishings.

"This is the panic room... the pipe here is for sending out messages. Mr. Kakashi, I trust you will be able to call for support from here?" Gatou looked up at the Jounin, who put a hand to his chin in thought.

"I don't think I will be able to... there's far more ninja than we expected in the city. Any birds we send will be shot down." Kakashi looked at the short man. "Do you have a town map on hand?"

He nodded, scurrying to get a scroll from a shelf. The Jounin took it with a nod, and opened it on the long table. "Naruto, I need you to memorize the city's layout. Send out clones to prepare it against Kiri ninja. Sasuke, Sakura. Bunker down. This is going to be a hell of a fight." The blond ninja grunted in agreement, before forming hand-seals. A clone popped up beside him, promptly forming a hand-seal of its own and turning into a small lizard.

Sasuke chuckled at the small creature, before picking it up. He carefully placed it on the side of the pipe, and watched its legs hold onto the smooth metal before it scurried up. Kakashi sighed in exasperation, covering his eye with one hand. "Damn it, you kids weren't meant to go up against these kinds of odds until long after you graduated."

Sakura digressed, always bubbly even if her voice was serious. "Don't worry Sensei. We're ready."

"No, no you're not. Just stay back, and I'll try to get us out of this mess. Kiri nin... shit." The Jounin angrily shook his head, looking back at the map. "Give your clones an update, Naruto. Some of the scouts can pitch in on the trap-making."

"Yes sir."

As a lizard scurried out of a pipe in the ceiling of the Capitol, a Kiri ninja leapt from it. He landed in a desolate alley, taking a cursory look of his surroundings before melting into water. The ninja seeped into a sewer grate, making haste to get back to camp, and report to his commander.

**Russell "I can't believe I had to beta your author's note."**


	3. Wave Country II

**Chapter 3 ^_^**

"Captain Zabuza, I've found it," the report came from behind the hulking black-haired man. He looked away from his detailed map of the island and its fortifications, peering at the Chuunin who he had sent for recon.

"Well?" He turned back to his map, holding up a pen. "Where is it, who has it? Come on," he prodded.

"One Jounin and three academy students, holed up in the Capitol building. One of the students is a clone specialist, looks to be scouting and trapping. I doubt he is a combatant at all."

"Any data on the traps?" Zabuza looked back and forth from the camp's spot on the map to the Capitol building in the middle of Wave City. He held his chin with one hand as he traced streets with the other.

"None; the child has shown no particular aptitude for any kind of traps so far, so we aren't sure about what to expect." The swordsman nodded.

"What about the Jounin? Any data on him? Any Konoha ninja entrusted with a squad of students on a mission like this must be quite a force in his own right," the commander considered.

"I have reason to believe the Jounin is Sharingan Kakashi. He has tall gray hair and a slanted headband, along with a facemask. He's garbed in standard Konoha Jounin gear and carries around no weapons of note," the ninja supplied.

"Kakashi... of course they'd send an AA-class Jounin to protect this thing. Assemble the troops and issue the order: I'll handle Kakashi; he's far too much for any of you, or even all of you. We start the attack in ten minutes- I want the camp mobilized. Anything to add?"

"They've placed it in a scroll or scrolls- I'm not sure if it's been separated or which of them is currently holding it, but I saw no one carrying the object around." The ninja saluted, before walking out of Zabuza's tent.

The Jounin nodded pensively, noting possible avenues of attack on the map of Wave City.

-_-

A shadow writhed with life below a windowsill, slowly reaching over it and sneaking behind a potted plant. It steadily climbed up the side of the window, taking advantage of the darkening twilight as it ascended towards the roof. A crossbow bold impaled it, and the shadow crashed through the window beside it with the power of a falling man. The mass impacting into a living room drew screams, which were ignored by Naruto as he whooped.

"Shoulda been sneakier, bastard!" He laughed, before popping as a blade tore through where his face had been. The Kiri ninja who had snuck up behind him blinked in confusion, before the roof collapsed under him. As he made landfall on the floor beneath, cracks spiderwebbed away from the neat hole he had fallen into, before a blinding pain erupted from his side.

Naruto smirked maliciously at the ninja before leaping out of the window, cackling as groaning stone enveloped his opponent. The clone exploded into smoke as he was skewered by dozens of weapons from the alleyway underneath, where two Kiri ninjas watched the dust rise from the rooftop slowly.

A rustling sound echoed through the alley, coming from a dumpster behind them. Unsheathing swords on instincts, the two ninjas looked to each other and cautiously approached the large green container. The rustling sounded again, and one of them savagely lashed out at it, cutting cleanly through the oversized trash bin.

Missing the structural link provided by its middle, the dumpster crumbled and collapsed, trash spilling from the split. It emitted noise one more time, before a small white cat hopped out. On reflex, the other ninja flung a kunai at it, pinning the cat to the dirty ground with a tortured mewl.

"Damn... it was just a cat," one of them sighed in relief, while his companion bent down to pick up the weapon. "Poor thing, though."

"Yeah, my daughter has two cats at home. Cute things, though they're a strain on the furniture." He grinned up at his partner, before pulling the weapon from the animal's back. As the body came loose, a low crinkling sounded from its stomach, prompting him to roll over the corpse.

The explosive tag exploded in his face. Another Naruto pushed the top of the dumpster off of himself, frowning at the stench. He looked down at the small crater on the ground, then at the burnt remains of the two ninja. "Sentimental idiots," he murmured with a sad shake of his head, before popping into a cloud of smoke.

Zabuza's form watched the interactions from atop a thin tree in the outskirts of Wave City. The commander peered around the city with his binoculars as more of his men were taken down by the clone user's crude but ingenious traps. "This is simply ridiculous, that some little boy is taking down dozens of Kiri ninja single-handedly... useless morons. I'll send in qualified troops."

He reached towards the radio receiver on his ear, briefly tuning in on the frequencies used by his men to listen to their horrified screaming. With a sigh, he sent out the order. "All ninja in the city, retreat. Second wave, move in."

He watched curiously as his men retreated unimpeded, having exhausted the boy's entire trap network. Clones swarmed the depopulated rooftops and streets, hurriedly setting up a new network.

"Kid's quick," he noted with a curious hum.

The entire group of visible clones suddenly popped as his second group of ninja exploded into the streets of Wave City, the majority of the traps going along with them as Kiri nin quickly advanced through the relatively harmless portion of the city. Soon clones stationed deeper into the city started fighting back, but were easily overwhelmed.

"Things seem to be pretty damn fragile, even if they look kinda deadly. Kid woulda been better of with water clones; Kakashi can't not know how to make those." Watching his men slaughter the resistance without trouble allowed the ninja to move from his position, leisurely hopping over roofs towards the Capitol behind the human wave that wiped out all in its wake.

The first exploding building startled him. Over the radio, reports of a few deaths due to the collapse did nothing to faze the commander. The advance was effortless for his men, the previously dangerous opposition falling apart in the face of his superior troops.

As he neared the center of the government, where his men would surround the Konoha ninja and take the artifact, explosions became more frequent. The desperation tactics by the boy weren't anything particularly surprising, although the destructive ability of simple clones in a child's hands brought him slight trepidation.

Zabuza landed lightly in front of the Capitol building's front steps, peering curiously at the charred marble as a Genin dropped beside him to report about the situation. "Sir, the entire perimeter has been secured."

"Well, then what are you waiting for?" He peered down at the teenage ninja. "If the area is clear and you know where your enemy is and how his stronghold looks inside and out, you attack before he can build up further defenses." The boy gulped at his glare, not moving. The Jounin sighed, stomping on the ground.

The other ninja flinched, before the commander calmly picked up a piece of the broken cement beneath him. Zabuza stared at it for a second, before looking at one of the Capitol building's windows. He put one finger on his headset, sending out orders. "I trained you little bastards, so I'm sure you will do well without being able to see. Go!"

With a smooth throw, the broken asphalt was thrown into the building through a grand window overlooking the street. Instead of simply breaking the glass, the piece of stone exploded into a torrent of water, smashing the window and its frame, whilst sending thousands of liters' worth of water down the stairwells of the building's luxurious foyer.

As dozens of men sprinted into the building, Zabuza carelessly leapt up to and through the already-broken window while forming a string of hand seals. He murmured his technique's name, and the air within the Capitol thickened.

Immediately his sharp ears picked out the sounds of panic in many rooms throughout the structure. Within moments numerous clones sprouted from the soppy ground and silently prowled towards the disturbances.

The Kiri Jounin looked around lackadaisically as he trod down the soggy carpeted stairs of the capitol building, looking at great depictions of the man who brought Wave-particularly its capital- into prominence. Gatou's visage occupied the entire back wall, his thin mustache curling above his widely-grinning mouth in a show of unrestrained glee. The mayor had always had a soft spot for the average man, raised in a small island at the edge of Wave's borders before moving to Tea to learn economics.

When he returned to Wave City after a decade in Tea's best universities, he was followed by a revolution that shook off Lightning's hold over the tiny island nation. With the help of Fire Country and its ninja forces, Wave gained independence, becoming a client state of Konoha soon thereafter.

Before Zabuza's leisurely pace got him to the ground floor, the sounds of combat had died out above, and he had heard several of his clones vaulting over the stairs and dropping to the first floor, to join his men in battle. The sounds of an occasional trap that was set off by the battling only added to the cacophony of noise resounding through the structure.

Zabuza passed dozens of rooms as he walked towards the back of Wave's capitol building, listening to the din of battle that surpassed any other sound in the building. His entrance through the top floor had slowed down enemy response considerably, the little boy's clones that had been ready to swoop down on his forces from above being ambushed themselves under the obscuring haze of the Jounin's mist.

As the Jounin walked towards his underground target, a ninja ghosted by beside him, long coat swishing loudly as he moved. The sound of a dropping pin grabbed his attention as he opened his eyes and spotted the short man running through the thick mist. One arm lashed out and grabbed the very tip of the cloth, pulling the man back.

The ninja coughed as he was yanked back by his neck, losing his footing before he was thrown backwards. As he slid along the floor atop his coat, he could barely see the looming shape of his commander beside him as the sound of collapsing rocks sounded through the building.

Zabuza stepped forward, away from the fallen ninja and towards the trap he had saved him man from. He crouched beside the pile of debris, picking a pebble atop it and throwing it at the Genin exasperatedly. "Kid, don't be so cocksure about things; you're in a heavily-defend-" Zabuza flung himself forwards, over the pile of stone and marble as the ground he had been standing on spontaneously exploded.

Landing steadily on his left leg, Zabuza broke into a sprint as the hallway behind him kept collapsing, the long trap continuing to go off as he moved down the hallway, ceiling collapsing in a long line extending from the first component. Further down the hall, the Jounin heard the groan of plaster as the trap began dropping a piece of the ceiling out of sequence. He simply flickered out of existence for a second, and looked back at the spontaneously-falling ceiling from a doorway at the hall's end. He looked down at the luxurious staircases, barely touched by water at this distance from the break-in.

"Keep moving, but do so cautiously. These Konoha ninja have some nasty shit cooked up," he grumbled through his headset, holding the switch beside his ear as he looked at the luxurious walls and tapestry, this area of the building untouched by his mist. "I've found their predicted location, but I want someone on the roof just in case they try to escape. Three Chuunin, at least."

The man sighed as he began to descend yet another set of stairs, humming curiously as the lavishly-decorated staircase shifted to more conservative cement steps lined by steel rails as he continued on his way down. As he passed the first flight of stairs, he walked up to the opposite wall and knocked on it lightly. The ninja grunted as the only returning sound was that of solid cement, lightly stepping towards the steps that went further down.

An inconspicuous steel wire was placed atop the first step in front of him, which he carelessly kicked before he continued on his way. His left arm snapped out, grabbing a kunai that had been sent towards his face. He hummed thoughtfully at it, before tossing it back. The small throwing device hidden by a Genjutsu dropped harmlessly as he kept moving.

"I'm really fucking tired of stairs," the man mumbled as he stepped through another trap, mindlessly ducking under a hail of kunai. "Although I should say this is a nice strategy, making some hard-to-spot traps that the stupid ninja will fall for, and the smarter ones will dodge. I wonder what would happen if I didn't set off the easy traps."

As a wall that emitted the smallest amounts of noise, barely caught by his well-trained ears, came into sight, he decided to give in to his curiosity, stepping over a step that was angled differently than the others. The sound of a hook snapping responded, followed by a chain of noises going upwards until he could feel the noises being dampened by the mist above.

"What happens now...?" He gazed up curiously, scratching at his chin. The end of the guard rail started morphing, until it became a cat's head. It giggled at him, detaching from the stairs with a pop before it floated around his head. The Jounin blinked at it in curiously, before shrugging and dispelling the illusion.

A groan resounded through the small underground area, before the stairway directly above him began collapsing on his head. Zabuza extended an arm, holding the mass of cement away. "This is it? Dropping a flight of stairs?"

Noise exploded from far above, out of sight, before the sound of crushing rock overtook the ninja's senses. His eyes widened as a cushion of air made its way down to him, ruffling his hair as the dozen flights above began descending upon him.

Moving quickly, he made a hand-seal and spit a glob of water down beside his feet, grunting with exertion as he pushed the solid mass above him upwards and reached down into the water.

"Kakashi! I'm coming for you!" His bellow barely echoed in the collapsing staircase as his entire fist entered the shallow puddle, pulling out an enormous hilt followed by a blade as tall as himself. The Jounin broke into a sprint, pointing the tip of his weapon towards the hollow wall and using his entire body to tear into it.

The stone parted like tissue paper under Zabuza's strength. The widening of the blade as it neared the hilt, combined with his own form backing it up, caused the entire structure to cave in. Bits of shrapnel exploded into the small panic room as he flung himself from the mass of collapsing cement outside.

The Kiri Jounin immediately ducked, sliding on the ground in a crouch as dozens of kunai tore through where his head had been moments before. Peering into the room, he saw three children guarding a cowering mustached man in the back, while his real opponent sat on the tabled in the center of the room with his arms crossed.

Kakashi tilted his head at the opposing Jounin, looking over his Zanbatou with a curious eye. The sword, wet from Zabuza's unsealing procedures, was covered in light brown from the dust that enveloped it. The Kiri ninja straightened, lightly spinning his weapon as he looked around the room.

"This is your little panic room? Nice. I like it." He smiled toothily at the gray-haired man, who innocently returned to motion, his smile partially hidden under his mask.

"Oh? I rather like it, too. The furnishings are quite nice, and I was looking over some books. What a wealth here, really. Though it doesn't seem to do its job of keeping people out too well." All of the room's occupants were frozen as the two ninja spoke.

"It would seem that way, yes." Zabuza smirked, feeling the mass of stones behind him finally settle. "Should we get down to business?"

"Business? Before we've even introduced ourselves?" Kakashi leaned forward, standing from his seat on the large piece of furniture he had been settled on. "I knew Kiri ninja were impolite, but I expected more from a Jounin."

"Aah, but I'm sure you know me. Right, Kakashi?" Zabuza slung his sword across his shoulder, casually running a hand through his hair.

"... I don't." The Konoha ninja squinted for a second, before shrugging. "Who are you?"

Zabuza's fist clenched, knuckles cracking as he brought his hand down and closed his eyes in aggravation. "Who the hell do you think I am?" He flexed a shoulder, using the momentum from the sword bouncing away from it to heft it easily. "This is Kubikiri Houcho! One of Mist's seven legendary swords!"

"... Oh, so you're Raiga? Wait, no, that's not it..." Kakashi brought a hand to his chin in thought. "Oh, oh!"

"What is it, Sensei?" The pink-haired girl in the back piped up, holding her kunai at the ready as her teacher held a hand up in triumph.

"I recognize him now!" The Jounin pointed at Zabuza heroically. "Zabuza, Demon of the Bloody Mist! Slayer of a thousand men!"

The Kiri ninja stared uncomprehendingly as Kakashi pumped a fist triumphantly. His heated comeback was halted, however, by an explosion underneath his feet. As he was propelled into the air, Zabuza drove Kubikiri Houcho into the ground, slowing himself down before he could be splattered on the likely-trapped ceiling. The ninja hung weightlessly for a second, before an intense chorus the rang from his side. As if a flock of birds were flying towards him, he was overtaken by the sheer cacophony of noise and a light as bright as the sun's. With a start, the ninja used his entire body to pull his sword from the ground.

Instead of bringing the weapon to bear, Zabuza yanked himself downwards, watching was Kakashi barely missed striking him with a glowing hand. As soon as the Kiri ninja found himself touching down, he tore his Zanbatou from the ground, cleaving Kakashi in half.

The two halves of the ninja sprung apart with the force of the strike, before dissolving into dust that sprinkled the ninja on the ground. Zabuza looked up from his spot, watching Kakashi beginning to clap. He gritted his teeth, angrily slamming the hilt of his sword on the ground beside him.

"Good show. Not many people can dodge my Chidori. It was just a clone, of course, but still. Congratulations. Now see if you can hold me back." Kakashi flickered out of existence, suddenly materializing above Zabuza. The Kiri ninja swiveled his arm in its socket to try and cut the other ninja's legs out from under him, but he simply vaulted off the side of the blade as the Kiri Jounin stood.

Zabuza charged, swinging his sword with one arm as Kakashi flung himself at him. The Konoha ninja jumped into the air, lightly stepping on the side of Kubikiri Houcho and moving to kick him in the face, only to be stopped by his opponent's other hand.

The Kiri Jounin grunted at the effort, yanking at Kakashi's leg as he moved to spin with his sword's momentum, unbalancing the gray-haired man. He flopped over the side of the wide weapon before Zabuza let it go, barely dodging the other Jounin's kick as he awkwardly cartwheeled away.

Zabuza spun once, before stopping with a groan, impaling the sword into the ground as he blinked at Kakashi's movements. "What the fuck was that?" He suddenly ducked, blinking at the tinge of pain he felt on his head. A pulse of Chakra later and Kakashi was standing before him, receiving a headbutt with prejudice from the crouching Jounin.

The Konoha ninja exploded into smoke, becoming a dented chair as Zabuza staggered back onto his feet. One of his eyes was obscured by red, and he angrily wiped away the blood from his face as he glared around. Kakashi stood barely out of his sword's reach, staring unerringly at him with both his normal dark eye and the one that had been obscured beforehand.

"The Sharingan comes out, eh?" Both Jounin exploded into movement, Zabuza leaving his sword behind to better fight the more mobile Konoha ninja. Their battle could not be seen, only heard as sparks flashed with the meeting of their kunai. Zabuza's greater strength was offset by Kakashi's speed and experience, but sooner than later the man from Kiri grew tired of that and leapt back, placing his hands before his face.

Kakashi's eyes widened as he rushed to begin following the man's handseals, and he had barely begun before Zabuza had already finished. The Jounin's mouth widened beyond what his jaw should have allowed, before a great mass of iridescent water burst from it. It quickly sped away from him, its tip splitting in the middle to form a jaw as two spots in its sides exploded outwards to form thin arms.

The water dragon swallowed Kakashi, its 'mouth' darkening as earthen materials dispersed through it, before collapsing as it hit a wall behind the Jounin.

"Holy shit," Naruto murmured before breaking into hand-seals himself, followed by his team and Gatou. Zabuza did not notice, jumping towards his sword and pitching himself atop the hilt as the torrential mass of water bounced back from the wall.

Before the mass of water could reach the four, they lit up, garnering the Jounin's attention as the backwash from the dragon engulfed them and they exploded. Zabuza did not have time to even scream before he was engulfed by the blast, his sword disintegrating as he was flung towards the remains of the entrance by the concussive force.

The sudden combustion of Team Seven and Wave's mayor was followed by the collapse of the ceiling covering half of the room, which barely missed Zabuza as he scrambled for cover. As the chamber stilled, Zabuza groaned in pain, standing up while looking around cautiously. Kakashi was nowhere in sight, and he could feel the cool night air spilling into the area from above.

The Jounin grunted, awkwardly stepping through the thin layer of water still on the ground towards the opening on the ceiling. Before the water could spill out of the cracks covering the floor, he once again reached into the ground and stuck his hand into it, pulling out Kubikiri Houcho. As he slung it across his shoulder once more, he patted its broad side, before looking up at the hole at the top of the room. The night sky was covered in lazily-twinkling stars as he leapt from the panic room and into the outside.

As he lightly landed on the sidewalk above, he blinked at his surroundings. An old lady crowed as she beheaded one of his Genin, throwing a kunai at his commanding Chuunin as her purse unraveled into ninja wire that enveloped another ninja behind her.

All around, the scene was repeated as dozens of civilians swarmed his troops, which spilled out of the capitol building to fight back. Zabuza flickered out of existence for a moment, before coming back to be with his fist through the woman's face. She popped, the smoke that made her up serenely drifting away.

The Jounin's eyes widened, before putting a hand to his radio receiver. "Do you copy?"

"Yes, sir!" A Chuunin's voice responded, panting slightly.

"Listen, these are all clones. They did something to the civilians and replaced them with themselves. Kakashi and the artifact have escaped. I need you to-" The capitol building exploded behind him, throwing the Jounin off his feet as he looked back.

The building spilled fire as it collapsed onto itself, and the Chuunin he'd been speaking to screamed in pain. "Goddammit Kakashi, I'll get you!" He placed his hand over the receiver once again, sending out the order. "Pacify this fucking place- I'm going for Kakashi! He's likely running towards Konoha- Haku!"

There was no response.

-_-

Kakashi held up a fist as his team sprinted through the water between Wave's island and the mainland, stopping them. He clapped his hands happily, looking around at his students as the moonlight gave the water a slight sheen. "Alright, seems like the Kiri ninja were completely fooled. We have something of a 20-minute headstart, so we'll have to be moving- more so now that I know who the commander is."

As Kakashi began running again, Naruto piped up. "Who is he? The dude with the big sword, right? The one I spotted earlier?"

"Yes, he's Zabuza, one of the Seven Swordsmen. This is really bad. If what you said was true, he may actually have Hunters with him. Keep moving, otherwise-" Kakashi's eye widened, before he leapt from his spot. A spear of ice exploded from the water he'd been standing on, crumbling away as he slid to a stop, followed by a wake, a dozen meters away.

As the bits of ice slowly dispersed through the water, a ninja silently rose from underneath. His long hair, dry even though he had been underwater, lazily swayed in the wind. His mask gleamed lightly under the rising moon's light.

"Shiiiit. He did have a Hunter," Naruto murmured in horror.

The hunter's hand reached for the side of his head, one long finger neatly pressing a spot on the side of the mask. Zabuza's calls were quieted as the Kiri Jounin heard a click on the other side.

"Found them." 


	4. Escape

**Yes, it is back! Enjoy.**

Kakashi and the Kiri Hunter stared at each other, silently bobbing up and down with every movement from the calm seas surrounding the island of Wave Country. Team Seven watched from a slight distance, all three ready to defend themselves should the enemy ninja lash out.

The Hunter stood in the same position as he had been when contacting what they presumed to be his commanding officer- whom Kakashi had no doubt was Zabuza himself- with his hand at his ear. Slowly, his arm moved away from his head, coming to rest parallel to his body. His fingers curled, pulling at one long sleeve, before a glinting senbon needle was retrieved.

Kakashi's eye narrowed as he watched the unnecessarily showy action, signaling for his students to back away slightly as he felt a wave of Chakra expand from the Hunter's position. It was quickly followed by a blast of cold air as the ninja flicked the needle away.

As it fell in a gentle arc, Kakashi braced for an attack while a crackling sound overtook his sense of hearing. The senbon's trajectory was impossibly smooth, leading with the tip as it hit the water.

Not even a small ripple was present as the weapon penetrated the water, but the crackling sound reached a crescendo before the needle halted its motion through the surface of the sea, water abruptly coalescing into ice around it.

Almost instantly, a large radius around the ninja was suddenly turned, and Kakashi bounded away. Thick tendrils of mobile ice rose from the water, causing it to freeze under them as they reached outwards hungrily. They crashed violently into still-liquid water, freezing even the waves that exploded away from the impact points.

As the sea surrounding the Kiri Hunter quickly became a treacherous work of art, Kakashi landed. Sasuke had been slower than the Jounin on the uptake, but he stood almost across from his teacher, weapons at the ready. Both could see Sakura running from waves of ice, squealing in horror as tentacles reached and crashed around her.

Naruto hadn't been fast enough, and had decided to go on the offensive before the ice could take him out. His Sensei moved towards him, zooming back onto the icy battlefield as Sakura reached the end of the ice's range, and Sasuke began tearing through icy apparitions.

Those actions were only on the background of the powerful Jounin's mind as he sprinted towards his blond student, who split into a squad of clones to hold off multiple ice versions of the Hunter. They were slow enough to provide almost an equal match for his clones, but as Naruto's doppelgangers began popping from both the Hunters' assault and ice spears that tore out of the smooth surface, Kakashi decided to back him up.

The frozen water attempted to reach up and immobilize him, but his run was too fast for it. With a sweep of his right arm, he sent ten shuriken into the ice clones wielded by the Hunters, absently watching them crumble as his left hand tied an explosive note onto a kunai.

He flung the weapon towards the Kiri ninja, who raised a wall of ice to hold back both the weapon and follow-up explosion. As the wall fell, Kakashi could see him smoothly moving away.

Kakashi's eye narrowed as he noticed what the Hunter was doing- fleeing. His hasty retreat upon seeing the Jounin come near was obvious enough, but then he decided to try and lead him on a chase around his skating rink. Suddenly, a pane of iridescent ice rose up beside the ninja, and he leapt into it.

Kakashi ran towards the smooth monolith, searching for the Hunter in the vicinity of the mirror-like apparition. He was nowhere to be seen. "... huh," the Jounin mumbled as he peered at his reflection. He caught a flash of something behind him, and turned around in a moment's notice. His hand reached up to catch something, and he found himself staring at a senbon needle in his grasp.

Another ice mirror stood in front of him.

It glittered smugly in the moonlight, and he spun around once more, dodging a hail of needles with a quick jump. As they plinked off the mirror, he looked ahead at three more.

His reflection on the middle one slowly fogged up, to be replaced by the Hunter's visage.

"Give up, Konoha ninja. Give me the artifact and you may live."

Kakashi was suddenly aware of mirrors materializing all around him, pushing each other up until they formed a hemisphere around him. Images of the Kiri ninja appeared in all of them as Kakashi looked around.

"You're pretty sure of yourself," the Jounin drawled.

"No one has ever lived through this technique. Surrender," the voice demanded from all around him.

Kakashi shook his head. "You have some weird techniques. But we have to get moving."

He flickered, and was gone. A mirror behind him shattered, and the Hunter found a boot digging into his chest as the grey-haired man kicked his way out of his deathtrap.

The battlefield outside wasn't very different from before. Sakura stood at the border between ice and sea, while Sasuke tried to fight his way towards Naruto, who himself to fend off ice apparitions with thirty of himself.

A few crumbled on their own, presumably because the Hunter had lost focus, but Kakashi didn't let up his assault. Using Chakra to aid his midair movement, he axe-kicked the ninja downwards.

He hit the surface with a loud crunching sound, scattering crushed ice all around with his fall. Kakashi landed lightly, peering at him. The Hunter did not move as his ice apparitions continued to collapse, freeing up Naruto's legion of clones. Behind him, the Jounin could hear the ice mirrors shattering under their own weight.

A weak breeze buffeted him as he walked towards his fallen enemy, bringing small wisps of smoke with it. Naruto strolled towards him carelessly.

"Sensei, that was pretty lame," he whined. "What did you do, take him down in one hit?" He stared at the fallen ninja. "I don't think he should've gone down that easy. Someone with so much experience must-" The ninja-in-training was interrupted by an ice spear, which almost pierced his leg as he threw himself back.

Far off, Kakashi heard Sakura's cry of surprise as she was forced back to the water, and Sasuke hastily backed away from the epicenter of the ice as a frozen dragon exploded from the surface near him.

The Hunter was gone. A quick sweep of the area revealed nothing besides approaching copies- discernible only because of how their crystallized sheen under the moonlight. Kakashi turned towards Naruto to bark off orders, only to stop as he saw him bent over, slashing at his feet with a kunai.

Kakashi took his attention off the approaching hostiles for a moment to wonder what the hell he was doing, before noticing that the blond's sandals were completely white.

Slowly but visibly, the ice began to make its way up the boy's legs.

_Shit,_ he thought with creeping horror. "Naruto, work on getting out of that; I'll cover you!"

Even as he began pulling kunai and shuriken from every pocket on his person, he kept an eye on his student- if things got hairy enough, he might have to use jutsu to get his student free, but he'd rather not, as Zabuza catching up was an inevitability he'd rather face with a full tank.

Naruto, not needing to care about spending Chakra, pulled out every trick he knew to get himself out of the ice's grip. Once brute force showed itself to not be enough, he summoned a trio of clones. They nodded at him, and took a deep breath.

Kakashi looked back in curiosity, eye widening as he witnessed Naruto's latest plan.

Three fire jutsu did nothing to stop the ice's creeping, but they did set the boy on fire. He screamed, yanking his jacket off, but the unfrozen parts of his pants still burned, as did his hair. He quickly killed the flames on his head by violently patting them down- burning his hands in the process- while the ice continued moving up, uncaring of the presence of the fire.

Steam trailed up his body as the flames were extinguished, and after an incomprehensible shout of rage from the boy, the clones became explosives. They fell around Naruto's feet, exploding after a second's pause.

Kakashi stared. The bombs generated a lot of smoke, so the ice copies didn't follow up on their attacks until the cloud lifted. Kakashi himself could have, but he didn't, even as it dispersed enough to allow him to see the state of his student.

"Naruto!" Sakura's pain was easily discernible in her voice as she also caught sight of him. "Naruto, dammit!"

An ice statue stood before Kakashi, its perfectly-sculpted visage frozen in a panicked look.

The Jounin spun around, looking at the ice copies mid-attack. In a moment his left eye was uncovered, Sharingan blazing with hate as they all slowed to a stop. He lashed out, disappearing from his students' sight as he tore through his enemies with impunity.

The powerful eye caught sight of the real Hunter- he stood at the base of the enormous ice dragon chasing Sasuke around, hiding under the enormous cover made by where the body had first popped up. With the help of the Sharingan, Kakashi could see that he was controlling the entire playground of destruction, so much that he was a beacon of Chakra as he controlled the dragon a dozen meters away.

Something else caught his sight, dampened by the living ice's signature, but still visible underwater. The Jounin's eyes narrowed, before the world started moving before his perception. His headband came down, the real Hunter sighted, and the Chakra-lit world darkened once more; the moon and stars alone brought light to the sea.

In a second Kakashi's fist met with the ice structure directly behind the Hunter. It crumbled under his attack, and he was through. The hollow apparition shook with the impact, even as he spun and brought his heel up for a backwards kick.

He tore out of the dragon's body feeling quite some resistance under his foot, and as he stopped he peered down at the Hunter once more.

The Kiri ninja skidded down the ice, rolling as he slowed. He shakily stood, reaching for his shattering mask. It fell in pieces, revealing a bruising, bloody face.

Kakashi's eye curled perversely. "You've never fought a Jounin before, have you?"

The Hunter's eyes narrowed, even as he backed away hastily. The flash of orange from the distance grew into a wave of fire that vaporized the ice underneath it, and right atop where the enemy ninja had stood.

Sakura stood at the tail of the melted path, panting with exertion as she began to run from the edge of the ice towards them. She moved with impunity, the ninja unable to focus on the ice enough to impede her.

Kakashi frowned at the enormous expenditure of Chakra, when the boy had already stood beaten, before another flame lit up the sky.

Sasuke ran through his self-made rain, towards him. The remains of the dragon fell apart, mostly melted.

"You're gonna pay, bastard!" Sakura bellowed, angrily slapping explosive notes onto a kunai. Sasuke was nowhere near as vocal, but his rage was palpable.

The Hunter looked around, then at the Jounin standing before him. His mouth opened, and he heaved an audibly shaky breath as he stepped back. With wide eyes and a panicked face, he looked the picture-perfect example of a cornered hostile.

He quickly showed why those were often the most dangerous, as he crossed his arms to reach into opposite sleeves. As he spread his arms once more, a wave of senbon flew out of his hands. Kakashi dodged quickly, and Sasuke leapt over it in his rush for revenge.

Sakura wasn't so lucky. She spun, lashing out with her armed kunai to protect herself, but one of the dozens of needles thrown still managed to hit her arm as she prepared to throw her weapon. With a strangled cry, she collapsed. Her kunai skidded down the ice for a few meters before falling into the water.

Trying to use the distraction to his advantage, the unmasked Hunter began running away, raising flimsy-looking ice walls behind him with the last of his energy. His cover easily crashed down once Kakashi and Sasuke started attacking, and he was looking back in panic by the time they all fell down.

He tried to leap to get ahead, but suddenly the area in front of him bulged and exploded. Enormous fragment of ice flew away from the epicenter, and something flew out of the water surge.

The Kiri ninja shouted, helplessly flying towards the gaping hole and the figure who, in turn, leapt towards him. Momentum from both directions made the punch that hit him in the jaw much more powerful than it should have been, and he blacked out instantly as the figure snapped out a kick that threw him onto the ice.

Naruto stumbled as he dropped down, almost slipping as the Hunter bonelessly skidded ahead of him. The blond ninja-in-training grinned tiredly at Sasuke and Kakashi, pulling at one of his black shirt's sleeves.

The Jounin nodded at him with a chuckle, while the Uchiha growled deep in his throat.

The Hunter's head bobbed behind Naruto as the ninja-in-training jogged with his body thrown over his shoulder like a sack. The glittering battlefield where they had downed the Kiri ninja was far behind, barely visible in the horizon; their goal stood much closer at this point, and the coast of the continent was steadily growing in their perceptions.

Sakura moaned. Sasuke looked uncomfortable as he shifted her on his back. One of her biceps was covered in bandages and a few warming seals Kakashi had come up with before they had begun moving, and the young boy knew that below them was a horribly frostbitten wound. The Hunter's last attack was a hail of the needles that he'd used to freeze the sea, and Sasuke deduced it could've killed one of them should the ice user be more coherent at that point.

As it was, Sakura was definitely going to be sitting out of combat, and until she recovered more thoroughly, much movement at all. Her Chakra exhaustion compounded with the strange needle's effects on her body, so they were stuck carrying her along towards Konoha.

"Would you stop glaring at me already?" Naruto demanded, speeding up slightly to run beside Sasuke, who started upon noticing that he had, indeed, been glowering at his teammate for some time.

He didn't apologize, however. Instead he grumbled, "don't ever do something that stupid again."

Naruto sighed, facing forward as he mimicked Sasuke's lip movements mockingly. "You gave me that spiel already. I'm sorry, alright? I beat him in the end anyway." He rolled his eyes. "I'd hate to see how testy you'd be if I actually _lost_ a fight."

The Uchiha growled, shaking his head angrily. "We thought you were dead, Naruto. At least try to make it look like you haven't died when you're doing these crazy gambits of yours. Besides, he was already running with his tail between his legs, and not so quickly at that." He snorted. "You just came in at the last second to steal the thunder."

"I did it very well though, you've got to agree with me," Naruto mulled. Sasuke hung his head in exasperation. "Look, hey, I'm sorry," he sounded more sincere this time. "But I had no way of taking him in a straight fight, even if he was weakened. I don't like to run, but I had to do something to get my ass out of the... fire, I guess. It would've been a matter of time until he found and blocked my escape route, and I was frozen for good."

Kakashi raised his hand, turning his head towards them. "Quiet, now. Watch out for an ambush- for all we know there's an army waiting at the coast. Seal the hostage and Sakura."

Sasuke's eyes widened. The sealing of corpses was a time-honed tactic used by many Hunters so they wouldn't have to lug so much dead weight around, and as eventually everyone began to do it. Sealing live people was possible, as it placed them in a sort of stasis for as long as 10 days if the seal was good, but it was only done in extreme situations.

"Sensei, but..." Kakashi looked back, giving Sasuke a steely gaze. This happened to be such an extreme situation.

"No buts. There is a risk that the seal might be compromised, or the scroll lost, but it's got a far better chance than Sakura as she is, on your back and in danger of being hit in the crossfire. It'll also help your mobility. We'll halt at the beachhead for a few minutes; I'll protect you both as you do the sealing."

"Yes, Sensei," Sasuke acquiesced.

"Don't worry, I can carry both scrolls," Naruto offered. "I'll keep them safe."

"Naruto, you _set yourself on fire_ a few minutes ago."

"I've already told you two to cut the chatter," Kakashi's voice shut them both up. "Sasuke takes them; I'm already a high priority target, and in the worst-case scenario I'll hold them off while you two flee. Naruto, you're not as fast as he is, so I can't trust you with Sakura and the hostage. You're very good at getting away, however, so..."

Naruto blinked as his teacher's form seemed to become see-through for a second, before one of his pockets suddenly felt heavier. He reached into it discretely, as he watched his teacher become corporeal once more.

"Understood?"

"Yes, Sensei." Naruto nodded resolutely.

"Good. Try to stay silent this time."

They made landfall a few minutes afterwards, and Kakashi stood facing the heavily-forested interior of the island as Naruto dropped the Hunter and Sasuke carefully put his female teammate down on the small stretch of earth not consisting of thick woodland.

Sakura's eyes opened blearily. "Sasuke?" She questioned, trying to focus on him. "What happened?"

"The Hunter got you. I'm going to seal you up." The girl blinked, before nodding.

"So there's a big fight ahead?" She mulled over the thought. "How's Naruto? I heard him before." Sasuke grimaced.

"Probably a very big fight. Naruto's fine; I'll be carrying you around." Sakura looked up at the moon, before shifting slightly.

"I might be wounded but I'm not down for the count. Here, help me up- Naruto can give me some Chakra and I'll be good as new," she said, extending an arm. Sasuke looked down at her in confusion, before he heard a sigh behind him.

"You know that won't work, Sakura. You can't fight." Naruto leaned down and unfurled a scroll beside her. "I'm all for fighting with determination even when you're beaten to shit, but you can't even move your right arm."

The girl frowned at him. "What are you talking about? Of course I-" Naruto spontaneously reached under her dress, making her flinch and cover her chest with one arm. Her eyes widened as she grabbed at her shirt, even while her right arm laid uselessly at her side.

The blond moved behind her head, nodding at the now-staring Uchiha to move opposite to him. At his signal, the two males of Team Seven lifted her up and shuffled to the side, placing her on top of the scroll. The girl, still holding a hand to her shirt, disappeared in a cloud of smoke as Naruto slapped her in the forehead with his palm. Sasuke kept staring at him even while pocketing one scroll.

"Did you have to grope her to prove your point?"

Naruto shrugged, rolling up the scroll where his teammate had laid seconds ago.

"Good, you're done. I sent a clone out for surveillance while you three talked; it doesn't look like there's actually anything in our immediate vicinity. Either they didn't plan for us getting so far so fast, or they're further in. Regardless, Zabuza should be tearing towards us by now, so we should get as far as we can from the sea," Kakashi reported. The two boys nodded, before he waved a hand towards the forest and leapt up onto a tree.

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look, the Uchiha pocketing the scroll, and followed.

Sakura looked around curiously. Naruto smiled down at her, offering a hand in order to help her up. After a moment of silence, she took it.

Standing unsteadily, she stared at him questioningly.

"Well, you know where you are. Or, well, aren't." He waved an arm towards the canopy of leaves above, which only let a small amount of moonlight through. Still, his eyes seemed to shine in the minimal light. "We don't have much time, however. The Uzumaki Scouting Package revealed nothing at the coast or further in, even though Sensei didn't deign to go that far."

"If he still thinks there might be resistance further ahead, don't you think-" Naruto silenced her with a headshake.

"Of course he knows, Sakura. He's _Kakashi._" He chuckled, before continuing. "Anyway, that was a ruse. Zabuza is faster than we expected- but now he probably thinks we're wary of an attack ahead instead of behind." He reached into her shirt, making the girl twitch at being violated once more. As he pulled out a scroll, however, she stopped herself from setting him on fire. "I'm sure you know what this is. Zabuza thinks I have it- Sasuke does, too. But it can't hold for long, especially if I'm taken down. So you've gotta run, especially if Zabuza brings back-up."

Sakura grabbed the scroll, head spinning at what she was expected to do as Naruto unzipped her satchel for her to place it into. "So I'm responsible for-"

"Yes."

"What about Sasuke? He doesn't know-" Naruto interrupted her, looking around warily.

"We didn't have time to tell Sasuke very much, but he's perceptive enough," he informed. "Now go. Konoha is that way," he added, nodding to the left.

**Review and stuff. ^_^**


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